Selective operating means for knitting needles



I May 18, 1937. E 2,080,525'

SELECTIVE OPERATING MEANS FOR KNITTING NEEDLES Filed April 25, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet l aftozweq 6w Z'Zmer Jinn e5,

May 18 1937. E. u. AMES 2,080,525

SELECTIVE OPERATING MEANS FOR KNITTING NEEDLES Filed April 25, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Elmer Z7. Ames May 18, 1937. u, s 2,080,525

SELECTIVE OPERATING MEANS FOR KNITTING NEEDLES Filed April 25, 1925 s Sheets-Silesia i h I] QAJLI l Q. 0 g

. Q E I Patented May 18, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT v01-1-1012:

SELECTIVE OPERATING MEANS FOR KNIT- TING NEEDLES Application April 25, 1925, Serial No. 25,915

12 Claims.

My said invention relates to a selective operatll'lg means for knitting needles and it is an object thereof to provide means in connection witha knitting machine of the type utilizing independent needles whereby various patterns can be made in the product by'the use of simple selecting devices which are easily controlled and not likely to get out of order.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts, Fig. 1 is a section of a needle cylinder showing my improved devices in position thereon,

Fig. 2, a similar section with parts in a different position, I

Fig. 3, a similar section with parts in still a different position,

Fig. 4, a fragment of a modification of the invention,

Fig. 5, an elevation of certain cams and jacks used in the machine,

Fig. 6, a pattern which may be knitted by the machine,

Fig. 7, a section of a modified form of the invention,

Fig. To, an elevation of conventional yarn feeding means,

Fig. 8, a similar section with the parts in a different position,

Fig. 9, an elevation showing cams used in the modification shown in Figs. 7 and 8, and

Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate a modified method of arranging the sub-jacks to form patterns.

In the drawings reference character It indicates a needle bed for a series of independent needles, the bed being here shown as acylinder but which may, within the scope of my invention, be otherwise constituted, as for example, the invention may be embodied in a dial or in a straight-bar knitting machine having a horizontal or inclined fiat bed. The cylinder is here illustrated as being of the rotary type with a driving gear H secured thereto in conventional manner, the cylinder and the driving gear being supported by parts l2 and I 3 of a conventional stationary frame. At It I have illustrated a part of a conventional stationary cam ring, or one of the cams carried thereby. Certain other conventional features shown in the drawings are not described as having no particular bearing on the invention.

The cylinder is provided with the usual slots for the needles l5 which are shown as being of any desirable or conventional type of independent needle having butts l6 for engagement with the needle-cams and having hooks ll at their upper ends. It is to be understood that I do not limit myself in respect to the kind of needles to be used and furthermore that knitting instrumentalities other than conventional needles may be substituted for the needles shown without departing from my invention, the essence of which consists in selectively controlling the taking of the yarn or the manipulation of a yarn or yarns after taking, or both, by means of novel controlling and actuating mechanisms.

At the bottom or rear side of the needles their slots are deepened to provide slots for jacks I! which in the embodiments of the invention here illustrated take the form of devices for projecting the needleaeither upward or laterally andmay therefore be referred to as projectors or projection jacks, which slots may be narrower'than those for the needles and may differ in other respects therefrom. In the present illustration the slots for the projectors extend to the lower end of the cylinder and terminate just below the sinker grooves indicated at It. The projector slots are curved outwardly at their upper ends so as to form curved surfaces mating with curved surfaces at the upper ends of the projectors. In a preferred form of construction the projector slots are made by a rotary saw cutting a groove in the cylinder and the motion of the saw is stopped just before it reaches the sinker grooves, thus leaving an outwardly curved surface at the upper end of the slot for each projector, and the upper end of the projector is curved to match the adjacent curved surface. These surfaces may be straightinclines or may be of other shape such as will move the jacks outward.

The projectors are resilient in the form here illustrated so that their butts l9 normally extend outward into the path of movement of an elevating cam 20 and a depressing cam 2| (Fig.

5). These cams may be mounted for slimng movement toward and away from the axis of the cylinder in a manner familiar to those skilled in the art so that by withdrawing the cam 2| the projectors, unless otherwise influenced, will be raised at every revolution of the machine by the cam 28 so as to project every needle into the position indicated in Fig. 2 with results hereinafter explained.

.In order to provide selective controllingmeans for the jacks whereby the needle operation may be diiferentiatedl have provided devices 22 herein denominated sub-jacks, these sub-jacks being here shown as mounted in the needle slots and supported by a ring 23 which may be the aid!- nary spring ring such as is commonly used for holding the needles in place in a circular independent needle machine. The sub-jacks are differentiated by means of butts 2i arranged at various distances from their pivot at 23 and a plurality of selecting earns 25, here shown as slidable in parallel horizontal planes and therefore sometimes referred to as sliders, are mounted outside the needle circle in a manner to permit them to be moved in and out whereby they may engage selectively with the butts of the pivoted sub-jacks to move them inward and thus bend the corresponding jacks or projectors to carry their butts I9 out of the field of operation of the projector cams 20 and 2|.

For convenience the earns 25 have been further distinguished by marking them with letters from a to 7. It will be understood that if the cylinder is revolved until a jack butt engages with a selecting cam which has been moved inward into the position indicated for the selecting cam e, in Fig. 3, the butt of the projector will be moved outof the path of its lifting cam, but otherwise the projector will be moved up into the position shown in Fig. 2 and the needle will be swung outward at its upper end. If all the selecting cams should be moved inward then all the jacks would also be moved to the position shown in Fig;

3 and none of the needles would be swung outward at their upper ends. Any suitable pattern mechanism such as a chain, a drum or a paper jacquard maybe used for controlling the selecting cams and for changing the order of their actuation for controlling the needles selectively. In the drawings I have shown ten such cams and jack butts correspondingly arranged in ten different positions but this number may be varied to suit particular situations.

It has been found that if a circular machine is set up with latch needles and adjusted for making plated work, i. e. knitting with two yarns of different color or weight or material, as illustrated in Fig. 'l, the yarns being so manipulated as to cause one to appear on one side of the fabric and the other on the other side, and then certain of the ordinary needles in the series are replaced by needles having their heads set forward or outward from the cylinder, say from 3*," to 1 other conditions being equal the needles having the regular hooks will throw one yarn to the inside and the needles with hooks set forward or outward will throw the other yarn to the outside thereby making plated stripes in a vertical direccourses selected in a predetermined order.

tion. The machines may be set up for plating by using two yarn guides or one yarn guide with two holes. The guide for the face yarn in a circular machine is nearer the cylinder than the other and more drag or tension is usually applied to the face yarn. When hooked needles are thus arranged in two series the needles having hooks in the rear set will reverse such plating. I have found that patterns may be applied on a fabric cams and the part way around pattern with the lower five cams.

For example if a stocking is to be made with the pattern extending all around in the leg. but only half way around in the foot, the sole being plain, the sub-jacks 26 used in the front half would have two butts, one to engage one of the five upper cams and one to engage one of the five lower cams but the sub-jacks used in the back half would only have one butt and engage one cam only. In the leg the upper five cams would be used and in the foot the lower five would be used or the sub-jacks in the front half may have one butt to engage one of the upper five cams and those in the back half may have one butt to engage one of the lower five cams and both cams in the leg and only the upper set in the foot.

In making the Walls of Troy pattern shown in Fig. 6, the sub-jack butts would be arranged as shown in Fig. 5 at R and S of the accompanying drawings in which the first set of ten subjacks each have two butts and the other set have only one. The sub-jacks in the half of the cylinder which is to knit in the front of the stocking would have two butts each arranged as in Fig. 5 at R, and those which make the back half would have but one butt each and would be arranged as in Fig. 5 at S, each repeated as many times as the number of needles in a pattern is contained in the number of needles in half the cylinder.

In the pattern shown in Fig. 6 the part marked V would be formed by pressing in cams b, c, d and e, the part marked W would be made by withdrawing the cams c and 41 while leaving b and e in place, the part marked X would be made by pressing in cam c and leaving in cams b and e, the part marked Y would be made by letting out cam I) while leaving in cams c'and e. and the part marked Z would be made by pressing in cams a and b and leaving in cams c and e. In this operation the pattern would be knitted all around a tubular fabric, e. g. a stocking. For knitting the pattern only at the front of the stocking the cams f, a, h, i, 7', would be used instead of cams a, b, c, d, e. In this pattern the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J are used to indicate the needles,

or rather the position of wales knitted by the respective needles while the letters V, W, X, Y, Z r

each indicate two courses. By obvious changes the pattern can be made heavier or lighter and varied in other respects. By moving all the selector cams 25 inward plain knitting will be made without any pattern, the fabric of course still I being a plated fabric of uniform appearance in color or otherwise if two yarns are used in the relation above described. .By moving all the selector cams back the relation of the yarns will be reversed so as to knit a plated fabric of the opposite character, i. e. the yarn that was on the face will be on the back and the yarn that was on the back will be on the face of the fabric, thus changing the color of the fabric or otherwise reversing its character and appearance.

The cams Z0 and 2| are so placed in relation to the stitch cams that the needles are projected outwardjust before theystart down the stitch cam (not shown) and the projectors are withdrawn about at the time the needle reaches the point where the web holder knocks over the stitch.

In the device so far described the needle actuating cams on the cam ring may be of any conventional type and their form and arran ement may be varied at will within wide limits. In the modified form of Figs. 7 to 9, a special set of cams is required for operating the needles, this set including stitch cams 21 and 28 with intermediate needle lifting earns 28 and 30 and jack lifting cams 3| and 32. In this form of the invention the needle cylinder 33 may be as in Figs. 1 to 6 as may also be the needles34 (which are shown as difiering slightly in shape from those in the other modification), and the remaining parts of the device may be identical with what has hitherto been described excepting as follows: The jack or projector 35 terminates some distance below the cylinder verge so that it does not ride out on the curved surface at 36. Instead it has a butt at 31, here shown as just below the needle butt which lifts the needle when the projector is elevated, the extent of the upward movement of the needle being determined by the height to which the projector is lifted. The projector is provided with a butt 38 at its lower end and the resilient body of the projector normally holds the butt in the position indicated in Fig. 7 so that it will be lifted by the cam 35 when the cylinder has rotated suflioiently far, or when the cams have rotated sufilciently far if the machine has a stationary needle cylinder. For selectively moving the butt of the projector out of engaging relation with the cam 3! I have provided pivoted sub-jacks 39 as in the modification previously discussed, said sub-jacks having butts $6 for selective engagement by cams 6i movable in and out by means of any conventional or desirable form of pattern mechanism. For convenience the cams are marked k, l, m and in Fig. 8 the cam m is shown as depressing the sub-jack at 39 to move the projector-butt out of the path of its cam whereupon the needle will not be raised at all.

In Fig. 9 I have shown in elevation a set of needles and jacks or projectors therefor with the upper parts broken away, the sub-jacks being omitted for the sake of clearness. The needles ride down the face of stitch cam 27 (which in some instances may be merely a leveling cam for bringing all the needles down to a common level upon the cam 42) Such projectors as have not been forced into the back position in Fig. 8 are now lifted by the latch-clearing cam M to lift their needles whereupon the butts of selected needles will ride on the incline of cam 29, and pass along the top of said cam. This is the latchclearing position for clearing the latches through the old loops, a new yarn being taken by the hooks of the needles after which they pass on to the stitch cam 28 where they knit 0d the old loops. Such needles as correspond to jacks which have been moved into the position indicated.- in Fig. 8, whereby the projectors are moved back out of range of the cam 3! do not take the yarn but their butts pass along the groove between the camsZQ and 42 so. that as to these needles the latches are not cleared nor is new yarn taken and thus they form draw stitches.

The needles which have passed under the forward point of cam 29 will not take the yarn at all, as above pointed out, with the arrangement so far described. Cams 30 and 82 may. however,

be provided to take care of cases where tuck stitch work is required as well as drop stitch work. In such a case another set of selector cam is provided which cooperates with the projector cams in the same way that selector cams 4| coact with projector cams 3|. As to the needles which have been raised the selector cams of the second set will move the jacks on their pivots and bend the lower ends of the projectors back against the floors of their respective slots but such movement does not afl'ect their needles because the projectors in the sets marked p are already in elevated position and their needles are also in elevated position, as indicated by the butts passing over the cam 29. The selection then is only among the needles corresponding to the projectors in. the normal lowermost position in Fig. 9. One of these projectors at q is about to be lifted by the cam 32, another at T has been lifted and its needle butt is seen passing up the face of cam 30 while still another at s has passed the cam 32 without being elevated and its corresponding needle-butt is passing underneath the cam at. It will be understood thatflprojector s was in the position indicated in Fig. 8 while passing cam 32. v The needle corresponding to butt 1' will take the yarn but will not be raised high enough to clear its latch as the cam 38 is lower than the cam 29 and therefore such needle will knit a tuck stitch as will also other needles similarly controlled.

It will be obvious that the structure last described may be used for ornamental fabric formation such as fabrics having tuck stitches, drop stitches, and the like or for any other fabric formation where the needles are selected accord ing to a predetermined design. As one example of an operation that may be performed the device is capable of making a drop stitch fabric by omitting cams 29 and 32 and persistently holding in one or more of the slidable selecting cams t! so that their needles pass below the cams and never take the yarn. The drop stitch effect may be made'half way around as in the modification above described by using jacks all the way around having butts at the level indicated at 43, while only the jacks at the front end of the machine are provided with a second series of butts at the level indicated at 0. If it is desired to vary the width of fabric between the drop stitch lines, this may be done by providing butts on some of the jacks at the level indicated at 44, with one or more sliders coaoting therewith, and an even wider variety may be made in the knitting by the use of additional sliders 4| and correspondingly positioned butts on selected jacks.

The modification above described differs from that. first described mainly in that the selective devices are used .to slide the needles upward instead of outward, the selection otherwise being identical. In some cases the needle movement may vary slightly by reason of wear of different parts or for other reasons causing non-uniform movement of the projections, and to assure uniform needle movement I have devised a modification of the form of projector shown in Figures 1 to 3, the modified form being shown in Fig. 4. In this figure the cylinder 35 may be as heretofore described but the projector has a fiat surface at $6 of some length which rides on the outer face of the cylinder after the point of the projector has moved up the curved surface and outward carrying with it the upper part of the projector and the corresponding needle.

.In Figure 10 I have shown a diiferent arrangement of sub-jacks for making the Walls of Troy pattern illustrated in Fig. 6. In accordance with this method the sub-jacks are arranged in the cylinder according to the pattern. For example, in the pattern illustrated in my application instead of arranging the jacks with a single butt in a diagonal manner, I make the sub-jacks the ninth and tenth sub-jacks with butts to en- "need be in at a time.

gage cams a, b, c, d and e. It will be seen that if the cam a be pressed in for two rounds it will knit the part marked W, if the cam c be pressed in for two rounds it will knit the part marked X. if the cam d be pressed in for two rounds it wil'. knit the part marked Y, and if the cam e be pressed in it will knit the part marked Z, and in this arrangement of sub-jacks only one cam It will also be seen that other figures such as squares, etc. may be made by pressing in cams in proper sequence as for instance a hollow square figure would follow the Walls .of Troy Pattern if firstv earn a were pressed in for two rounds, then cam b for four rounds and cam a again for two rounds, or a series of vertical stripes might be made by pressing in any one cam for several successive rounds, etc. In this way a variety of patterns may be made with the same arrangement of sub-jacks and only one cam in at a time.

To operate these cams a small drum having a ratchet movement on it is set in vertical position with cams or projections on its periphery to engage the earns a, b, c, d, etc. and means provided to work the ratchet at predetermined intervals to change the cams, thus pressing in first one cam and then another until the pattern is completed, the drum making one revolution to complete a pattern. I

Figure 11 shows a method of arrangement of sub-jacks to form another pattern, in which arrangement the position of the sub-jacks corresponds to the pattern as in Figure 10. It will be understood that the'pattern of Figure 11 could not be made all of the way around on a portion of the leg and part way around on another portion as that would require more than ten changes and only ten cams are shown on the mechanism illustrated in the drawings. The oblong patterns above and below the main pattern shown in this figure are madeby throwing in the lowest cam for two rounds then the next higher one for two rounds and again the lowest one for two rounds. Other variations of this pattern can be made by using other cams and it will be understood in general that different arrangements of sub-jacks or different operations of cams will permit almost endless variations in the patterns formed by means of the device of my invention.

Many other variations of the devices of my invention will be obvious to those skilled in the rrt and therefore I do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A circular knitting machine having cams arranged in a plurality of sets, independent needles actuated by cams of one set, resilient projectors for moving needles selectively out of normal yarntaking position said projectors having butts positioned to engage cams of a second set, and means acting selectively on the projectors to flex them and so take their butts out of the field of action of said cams, substantially asset forth.

2. A knitting machine having cams arranged in a plurality of sets, independent needles actuated by cams of one set, resilient projectors for moving needles selectively out of normal yarntaking position said projectors having butts positioned to engage cams of a second set, and means acting selectively on the projectors to flex them and so take their butts out of the field of action of said cams including sub-jacks actuated by cams in a third set to move the prosub-jacks to force them against said projectors to flex the projectors and so take their butts out of the field of action of said cams, substantially as set forth. I

4. A knitting machine including a needle bed,

needles movable in slots in the bed, needle-projectors movable in slots back of the needles said projectors and slots having coacting inclined faces adjacent the upper ends of the needles, means for moving the projectors selectively including sub-jacks positioned for engagement with the projectors, and means for actuating the subjacks selectively, substantially as set forth.

5. In a knitting machine, a needle bed having needle slots curved at one end, needles in said slots, slidable jacks in the slots having curved ends coacting with the curved parts of the slots.

to throw the heads of the needles outward, means for moving the needles and jacks along the slots, pivoted sub-jacks controlling the action ofthe jacks, and selective controlling means for the sub-jacks, substantially as set forth.

- 6. In a knitting machine, a needle bed having needle slots curved at one end, needles in said slots, slidable jacks in the slots having curved ends coacting with the curved parts of the slots to throw the heads of the needles outward, means for moving the needles and jacks along the slots, pivoted sub-jacks in said slots having butts at different points in their length, and means acting selectively on the sub-jacks to control the action of the jacks, substantially as set forth.

7. In a knitting machine, a needle bed having needle slots curved at one end, needles in said slots, slidable jacks in the slots having curved ends coacting with the curved parts of the slots to throw the heads of the needles outward, means for moving the needles and jacks along the slots, pivoted sub-jacks in said slots having butts at different points in their length, and a set of superposed cams slidable into and out of engagement with the butts of the sub-jacks for controlling the action of the jacks, substantially as set forth.

8. In a knitting machine, a needle bed having needle slots curved at one end. needlesdn said slots, slidable jacks in the slots having curved ends coacting with the curved parts of the slots to throw the heads of the needles outward and longitudinal faces near their upper ends riding on the outer surface of the needle bed when the jacks are advanced, means for moving the needles and jacks along the slots, and means for selectively controlling the action, of the jacks, substantially as set forth.

9. In a knitting machine, a slotted needle bed,

a needle in a slot of said bed, a jack in the slot arranged to flex theneedle at its hook end, a pivoted sub-jack mounted in the slot in front of the jack and parallel thereto, and pattern mechanism acting on the sub-jack, substantially as set forth.

10. In a knitting machine having a needle bed, independent needles arranged in a row in the bed, and means for feeding yarns in plating relation to the needles, the combination with such needles of means for flexing them selectively out of the needle row to reverse the plating in the knitted fabric.

11. A circular knitting machine having a rotating needle cylinder, a circle of independent needles therein, and jacks each individually associated with a needle respectively to'flex the hook end of that needle radially, and radially movable sub-jacks, each individually associated with a jack respectively to coact therewith and said subjacks having butts at different horizontal levels,

in combination with cam means to gseleotively push the sub-jack butts radially'inwardly.

12. In a knitting machine, a series of independent latch needles adapted to be reclprocated lengthwise to knit, and to which needles two threads are adapted to be fed in a normal plating relation, means adapted to engage selected needles of said series near their hooked ends and to move said selected needles slightly transversely of the needle series in proper timed relation to the yarn drawing movement and to the casting oif'point so as to cause the two threads to be reversed in position in the hooks of predetermined needles, with the result that both of said threads are cast ed at predetermined needles in a reverse plating relation.

ELMER U. AMES. 

